Month: October 2023

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday October 6, 2023 (NIV)

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

16 The Lord proclaims:
Stop at the crossroads and look around;
ask for the ancient paths.
Where is the good way?
Then walk in it
and find a resting place for yourselves.
But you[a] said, “We won’t go!”
17 Still, I have appointed watchmen to warn you.
But you[b] said, “We won’t listen!”
18 Therefore, pay attention, nations;
take notice, assembly,
what is ahead of them.[c]
19 Pay attention, earth:
I’m bringing disaster upon my people,
the fruit of their own devices,
because they have ignored my words
and they have rejected my teaching.
20 What use to me is incense from Sheba
or sweet cane from a faraway land?
Your entirely burned offerings won’t buy your pardon;
your sacrifices won’t appease me.
21 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
I’m putting obstacles before this people,
and both parents and children will stumble over them;
neighbor and friend alike will perish.

Panic-stricken Zion

22 The Lord proclaims:
An army is on the move
from the northern regions;
a great nation is roused
from the ends of the earth.
23 Equipped with bow and spear,
they are cruel;
they show no mercy.
Their horsemen sound
like the roaring sea,
arrayed in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24 We have heard reports of them
and are panic-stricken;
distress overwhelms us,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
25 Don’t go out into the field!
Don’t walk on the road!
The enemies’ sword
terrorizes at every turn.
26 My people,
put on funeral clothes and roll in ashes;
weep and wail as for an only child,
because the destroyer will suddenly descend upon us.

Prophet as tester

27 I have made you a tester of metals,
to examine my people[d]
to know and prove their ways.
28 They are tin[e] and iron;
they are headstrong and rebellious.
They live to slander.
They act corruptly—every last one!
29 The bellows roar;
the lead is consumed.[f]
Yet the refining fails;
the impurities[g] remain.
30 They are called “rejected silver,”
for the Lord has rejected them.

The Lord’s temple

7 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Stand near the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim there this message: Listen to the Lord’s word, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Improve your conduct and your actions, and I will dwell with you[h] in this place. 4 Don’t trust in lies: “This is the Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple! The Lord’s temple!” 5 No, if you truly reform your ways and your actions; if you treat each other justly; 6 if you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, 7 only then will I dwell with you[i] in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time.

8 And yet you trust in lies that will only hurt you. 9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, 10 and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, “We are safe,” only to keep on doing all these detestable things? 11 Do you regard this temple, which bears my name, as a hiding place for criminals? I can see what’s going on here, declares the Lord. 12 Just go to my sanctuary[j] in Shiloh, where I let my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, because you haven’t listened when I spoke to you again and again or responded when I called you, 14 I will do to this temple that bears my name and on which you rely, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim.

16 As for you, don’t pray for these people, don’t cry out or plead for them, and don’t intercede with me, for I won’t listen to you. 17 Can’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven. And to offend me all the more, they pour out drink offerings to foreign gods. 19 But am I the one they are really offending? declares the Lord. Aren’t they in fact humiliating themselves? 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I’m going to pour out my fierce anger on this place, on humans and beasts, on the trees of the field and the crops of the fertile land. It will burn and not go out.

21 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Add your entirely burned offerings to your sacrifices and eat them yourselves! 22 On the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn’t say a thing—I gave no instructions—about entirely burned offerings or sacrifices. 23 Rather, this is what I required of them: Obey me so that I may become your God and you may become my people. Follow the path I mark out for you so that it may go well with you. 24 But they didn’t listen or pay attention. They followed their willful and evil hearts and went backward rather than forward. 25 From the moment your ancestors left the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets—day after day. 26 But they didn’t listen to me or pay attention; they were stubborn and did more harm than their ancestors. 27 When you tell them all this, they won’t listen to you. When you call to them, they won’t respond. 28 Therefore, say to them: This nation neither obeys the Lord its God nor accepts correction; truth has disappeared; it has vanished from their lips.

29 Cut off your hair and cast it away;
grieve on the well-traveled paths.
The Lord has rejected you
and has cast off a generation that provokes his anger.

30 The people of Judah have done what displeases me, declares the Lord. They have corrupted the temple that bears my name by setting up their disgusting idols. 31 They have built shrines at Topheth in the Ben-hinnom Valley to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, although I never commanded such a thing, nor did it ever cross my mind. 32 So now the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer speak of Topheth or the Ben-hinnom Valley, but the Carnage Valley. They will bury in Topheth until no space is left. 33 The corpses of this people will be food for birds and wild animals, with no one to drive them off. 34 I will silence the sound of joy and delight as well as the voice of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for the country will be reduced to a wasteland.

8 At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah and its officers, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be taken from their graves 2 and exposed to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly forces, which they have loved and served and which they have followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones won’t be gathered for reburial but will become like refuse lying on the ground. 3 The survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, wherever I have scattered them, declares the Lord of heavenly forces.

Depth of Judah’s wrongdoing

4 Say to them, The Lord proclaims:
When people fall down, don’t they get up?
When they turn aside, don’t they turn back?
5 Why then does this people, rebellious Jerusalem,
persistently turn away from me?
They cling to deceit
and refuse to return.
6 I have listened carefully
but haven’t heard a word of truth from them.
No one regrets their wrongdoing;
no one says, “What have I done?”
Everyone turns to their own course,
like a stallion dashing into the thick of battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky knows the seasons,
and the dove, swallow,[k] and crane[l]
return in due time.
But my people don’t know the Lord’s ways.

Footnotes:

  1. Jeremiah 6:16 Or they
  2. Jeremiah 6:17 Or they
  3. Jeremiah 6:18 Heb uncertain
  4. Jeremiah 6:27 Heb uncertain
  5. Jeremiah 6:28 Or bronze
  6. Jeremiah 6:29 Heb uncertain
  7. Jeremiah 6:29 Or wicked
  8. Jeremiah 7:3 Or I will let you dwell
  9. Jeremiah 7:7 Or I will let you dwell
  10. Jeremiah 7:12 Or place
  11. Jeremiah 8:7 Heb uncertain
  12. Jeremiah 8:7 Heb uncertain
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Colossians 2:8-23

8 See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. 9 All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. 10 And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin. 12 You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. 14 He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. 15 When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.

16 So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. 17 These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming—the body that cast the shadow is Christ. 18 Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have become unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. 19 They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? 21 “Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” 22 All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. 23 They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 78:1-31

Psalm 78

A maskil[a] of Asaph.

78 Listen, my people, to my teaching;
tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a proverb.
I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—
3 ones that we’ve heard and learned about,
ones that our ancestors told us.
4 We won’t hide them from their descendants;
we’ll tell the next generation
all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—
the wondrous works God has done.
5 He established a law for Jacob
and set up Instruction for Israel,
ordering our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
6 This is so that the next generation
and children not yet born will know these things,
and so they can rise up and tell their children
7 to put their hope in God—
never forgetting God’s deeds,
but keeping God’s commandments—
8 and so that they won’t become like their ancestors:
a rebellious, stubborn generation,
a generation whose heart wasn’t set firm
and whose spirit wasn’t faithful to God.

9 The children of Ephraim, armed with bows,
retreated on the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep God’s covenant;
they refused to walk in his Instruction.
11 They forgot God’s deeds
as well as the wondrous works he showed them.
12 But God performed wonders in their ancestors’ presence—
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 God split the sea and led them through,
making the waters stand up like a wall.
14 God led them with the cloud by day;
by the lightning all through the night.
15 God split rocks open in the wilderness,
gave them plenty to drink—
as if from the deep itself!
16 God made streams flow from the rock,
made water run like rivers.

17 But they continued to sin against God,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tested God in their hearts,
demanded food for their stomachs.
19 They spoke against God!
“Can God set a dinner table in the wilderness?” they asked.
20 “True, God struck the rock
and water gushed and streams flowed,
but can he give bread too?
Can he provide meat for his people?”
21 When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
A fire was ignited against Jacob;
wrath also burned against Israel
22 because they had no faith in God,
because they didn’t trust his saving power.
23 God gave orders to the skies above,
opened heaven’s doors,
24 and rained manna on them so they could eat.
He gave them the very grain of heaven!
25 Each person ate the bread of the powerful ones;[b]
God sent provisions to satisfy them.
26 God set the east wind moving across the skies
and drove the south wind by his strength.
27 He rained meat on them as if it were dust in the air;
he rained as many birds as the sand on the seashore!
28 God brought the birds down in the center of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were completely satisfied;
God gave them exactly what they had craved.
30 But they didn’t stop craving—
even with the food still in their mouths!
31 So God’s anger came up against them:
he killed the most hearty of them;
he cut down Israel’s youth in their prime.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 78:1 Perhaps instruction
  2. Psalm 78:25 Or everyone ate the bread from heaven; Heb uncertain
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 24:26

26 Those who speak honestly
are like those who kiss on the lips.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

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10/5/2023 DAB Transcript pt2

So, Asaph says after he asks these questions, he says to this I will appeal. The years when the most high, stretched out His right hand, I will remember the deeds of the Lord. I will remember Your miracles of long ago, I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds. So basically, what we see here is when these questions, and again repeating them, will the Lord reject forever, will He never show His favor again, has His unfailing love vanished forever, has His promise failed for all time, has God forgotten to be merciful, has He in anger withheld his compassion. Asaph suggests that when we face those kinds of questions in our lives, that the response is to stop and remember what God has already done. So, like this because it’s super helpful to those of us who like journal our way through the Scriptures or journal our way through life because we are literally setting up a memorial stone for ourselves and for future generations. We are writing the story of what happened. And as with Asaph, we can look back into our own lives and see that God, like, we’re still here. God brought us through the thing we didn’t think we were going to go through. He brought us through in the way that He brought us through. It was counterintuitive as He normally is. And all of our expectations were met in ways that we never expected, and we see God’s hand in our lives through looking back and remembering what God has done in our life. And the Scriptures gives us the same thing, a broad ability to look back and see what God has done, so that we know that the answers to these questions are that God has not rejected forever, that He will show His favor, that His unfailing love has not vanished, that His promises have not failed, that He has not forgotten to be merciful, and that He is not withholding His compassion. Because we can look back into our own lives and get clarity for the fog we are facing now, cause these kinds of questions come up when we’re in the fog. We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know where we’re going. We don’t know which way is up and which way is down, we’re confused and so these questions arise. But when we stop and review and look back at God’s faithfulness in our lives and in the Scripture over thousands of years. Then we begin to understand. Yeah, I can’t see right now, it’s foggy right now, I’m confused right now, but that’s not all that’s really going on. I will continue to trust in the Lord and move through this season and when I can look back on this season, I will see that God had never departed from me and was compassionate and merciful to me. He did show me His favor, did not reject me, but brought me through. So, let’s remember this lesson. It’s not a problem to ask the questions. But in order to find the answers to the questions, we have to be willing to stop, to stop what we’re doing, the frantic behavior that we’re doing, stop and remember what God has done, and then we can begin to see what God is doing.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we welcome You into that. We find ourselves confused more than we would care to admit and more than we would like. And when we find ourselves tremendously uncomfortable, we start to wonder about where You went and whether or not You still are powerful and whether or not You still love us and have compassion and mercy upon us. When the truth is, those things will never fail. You haven’t gone anywhere; we’ve just lost our site. Restore our site by helping us remember what You have brought us through, so that we can look at what we are going through, knowing that this too shall pass, and we will navigate this, and You will direct us. We ask this in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

This is Trent from _. I just ask all of my DAB family to please say a prayer for my daughter. Her name is Ashton. She’s been trying to get pregnant for 7 years. They’ve been to a fertility clinics and done all the stuff. They found a cist and they got that tooken care of. Then they, she really thought that this was gonna be it and Wednesday she took a pregnancy test, Wednesday night and it was negative, and it broke her heart. It’s breaking my heart. My hearts broken for her. So, if I could just ask all my DAB family just to take a moment to say a little prayer for her. I really would appreciate it. She loves kids more than anything. She does a little daycare, and those kids are like hers. My other daughter has 3 children and they’re like hers too. She’s just great with kids. So, if I could just ask all of ya’ll to say a little prayer for her, her name is Ashton. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Doctor Mack from Alexandria, Virgina. I’m calling in to pray for the gentlemen who asked for prayer this morning concerning his finances. And the thing that struck my heart is that he was saying that it is not anyone’s fault but his that he has found himself in this situation. I understand brother. But remember the prodigal son. God did not, when he came back to the father, the father did not condemn him because you know what, the cattle on a thousand hills belong to the Lord. Everything that you see around you is made by God. And he blessed us so that we will be able to have joy and to be able to sing. So, you did the best you could, and I understand. I can’t tell you why I understand but just know that I understand. I’ve been there and God has comforted me with the fact that he who has blessed me before, He will bless me again and He will bless you again. So, I pray that God will bless you, help you to find a way out of this financial situation. Continue to praise Him. He is faithful. Father God, I pray for my brother. I pray that You will bless him beyond measure and restore all that he has lost so that he will be a blessing to others. Just like you restored Job and give him back twice as much as he lost. And for all those out there who are having financial difficulties, may God bless you abundantly. In Jesus name.

Lauriann, this is God’s Life Speaker. It’s the 30th of September and I heard on community prayer, Pamela Living the Life Victorious in Pennsylvania, come on and she said something that reminded me of being at someone’s funeral who also lost her husband way, way to early. Very much like your story. And she got up, at the funeral and she was able to say, I have to think about what I had because if I think about what I lost, I’ll never make it through the day. And Pamela was saying something like that also, to just reflect on the beauty of that relationship and what you had and its preciousness. And yes, it still is a loss, but we don’t need to look at it like it’s lost because it was. It existed. And you will be in heaven together eternally. So, that was such precious advice coming from Pamela and just I remember our friend saying that. I need to focus on what I had because if I focus on what I lost, I couldn’t make it through the day. Heavenly Father, we know that You’re wrapping Lauriann. We thank You for her willingness to come on here and really be the testimony for the rest of us, to give us hope, to stir each other up. To pray for each other and just bless each other. Lord Father, we bless You. We praise You and we worship You. Thank You for this community. Lift up Lauriann. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hi, this is Pure Heart from Tennessee. And I just wanted to say, I love my DAB and DABC community family. It’s just amazing how different ones call in and undergird one another in prayer. So, right now I just wanted to pray for the whole community. Lord God, I thank You for those that call in with needs that You hear our petition, and You answer, Father God. And Lord, I pray for those that call in praying for others Lord. I thank You that You give them the heart to lift up their brothers and sisters in Christ and hurt when they hurt and rejoice when they rejoice. And Father God, I pray for those that never call in but are praying daily for people’s needs. They’re praying for people’s hearts and their health. And Lord God, I lift up those that call in regularly but don’t express their own petitions. Lord, You already know what those petitions are. And Lord, I ask that You would answer them. Whether it’s a wayward family member or friend or lack in revenue or a health issue. Lord God, touch them in their lives, Father God. Make all things new, Lord God. In Jesus name. And Lord I pray for the Hardin Family and the Browns. I just ask You to bless them and I’m grateful that You, the Holy Spirit, put this vision in their hearts. In the name of Jesus.

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10/5/2023 DAB Transcript pt1

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15, Colossians 1:18-2:7, Psalm 77:1-20, Proverbs 24:23-25

Today is the fifth day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today as we continue our journey forward, and our next step forward on the journey will lead us back into the book of Jeremiah. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, and today Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 19 through 6 verse 15.

Commentary:

Okay so, there is something profoundly helpful for us that can be found in our reading from Psalm 77 today, and the psalmist Asaph, who wrote this song asked six questions, and they are questions that circle around our lives. Like, they are questions that are really difficult spiritual questions but they’re questions that creep into our lives, especially when we’re facing a season of endurance or hardship. So, Asaph asks, will the Lord reject forever, will He never show His favor again. I don’t know if this all starts, we’re just two questions in but it starts sounding familiar. Has His unfailing love vanished forever, has His promise failed for all time, has God forgotten to be merciful, has He in anger withheld His compassion. We find these questions in the Bible, we may think oh, you’re not supposed ask questions like that, you’re not supposed to say things like that. But we’re just quoting the Bible. The Bible is asking these questions, so that we might read them and ask them ourselves, they’re there for us to ponder and consider. It’s just when these kinds of questions arise in our lives there’s already usually something going on that’s making us uneasy, because something isn’t working the way we thought it was supposed to work. So, first of all, let’s just simply acknowledge these questions are in the Psalms, which are in the Bible, they’re being asked out loud, we just read them out loud. They’re fair questions to ponder. But when those type of questions arise in our lives, we have the answers or the ability to conceive of the answers directly from the Psalm.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday October 5, 2023 (NIV)

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

Anguish over looming disaster

19 Oh, my suffering, my suffering!
My pain is unbearable;
my heart is in turmoil;
it throbs nonstop.
I can’t be silent, because I hear the blast of the trumpet
and the roar of the battle cry!
20 Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land is ruined.
Suddenly, my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle flags
and hear the blast of the trumpet?
22 My people are foolish.
They don’t even know me!
They are thoughtless children
without understanding;
they are skilled at doing wrong,
inept at doing right.
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was without shape or form;
at the heavens
and there was no light.
24 I looked at the mountains
and they were quaking;
all the hills were rocking back and forth.
25 I looked and there was no one left;
every bird in the sky had taken flight.
26 I looked and the fertile land was a desert;
all its towns were in ruins
before the Lord,
before his fury.
27 The Lord proclaims:
The whole earth will become a desolation,
but I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore, the earth will grieve
and the heavens grow dark
because I have declared my plan
and will neither change my mind
nor cancel the plan.
29 As the horsemen and archers approach,
the people take flight.
They hide in the bushes
and escape to the cliffs.
Every city is deserted;
no one remains.
30 And you, devastated one,
why dress up in scarlet,
deck yourself in gold jewelry,
and color your eyes with paint?
In vain you get all decked out;
your lovers have rejected you
and now seek your life.
31 I hear the cry of a woman in labor,
the distress of one delivering her first child.
It is the cry of Daughter Zion,
gasping for breath,
her arms stretched out,
and moaning,
“I’m about to fall into the hands of murderers!”

Futile search for a good person

5 Search every street in Jerusalem,
comb the squares,
look far and wide
for one person,
even one who acts justly
and seeks truth that I may pardon her!
2 Even when making a pledge—“As the Lord lives”—
they swear falsely.
3 Lord, don’t you look for integrity?
You have struck them down,
but they didn’t even cringe.
You have crushed them,
but they have ignored your discipline.
They make their faces harder than rock
and refuse to return.
4 Then I thought to myself,
These are the poor who don’t know better!
They don’t understand the Lord’s way
or the justice of their God.
5 Let me go and speak to the powerful people,
for they will surely know the Lord’s way
and the justice of their God.
But they too have broken their yoke
and shattered the chains.
6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will attack them;
a wolf from the desert will destroy them;
a leopard prowling around their towns
will tear to pieces anyone venturing out—
because of their many crimes
and countless acts of unfaithfulness.
7 How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
and swear by gods that are not gods.
Although I could have satisfied them,
they committed adultery,
dashing off to the prostitution house.
8 They are lusty stallions roving about,
snorting for another’s wife.
9 The Lord declares:
Shouldn’t I confront these acts?
Shouldn’t I take revenge on such a nation?

Contempt for God

10 Climb through her vineyards and ravage them,
although not completely.
Prune back her branches,
because they aren’t the Lord’s.
11 The people of Israel and Judah
have been utterly faithless to me,
declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord
and said, “He’ll do nothing![a]
Disaster won’t come upon us;
we won’t see war or famine.”
13 The prophets are so much wind;
the word isn’t in them.
Thus and so may it be done to them.

14 Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces proclaims:

Because you have spoken this way,
I will put my words
in your mouth as a fire;
it will consume the people,
who are but kindling.
15 I am about to bring a distant nation against you,
people of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you don’t know,
whose speech you won’t understand.
16 Its weapons are deadly;[b]
its warriors are many.
17 It will devour your harvest and food;
it will devour your sons and daughters;
it will devour your flocks and herds;
it will devour your vines and fig trees;
it will shatter your fortified towns in which you trust—
with the sword!

18 Yet even in those days, declares the Lord, I won’t completely destroy you. 19 And when they ask, “Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?” you must reply, “Just as you have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land not your own.”

Shouldn’t you fear me?

20 Declare this to the people of Jacob,
announce it in Judah:
21 Listen, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but don’t see
and ears but don’t hear.
22 Shouldn’t you fear me,
declares the Lord,
and tremble before me,
the one who set the shoreline for the sea,
an ancient boundary that it can’t pass?
Though its waves may rise and roar,
they can’t pass the limits I have set.
23 And yet the people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they turn and go their own way.
24 They don’t say in their hearts,
Let’s fear the Lord our God,
who provides rain in autumn and spring
and who assures us of a harvest in its season.
25 Your wrongdoing has turned these blessings[c] away.
Your sin has robbed you of good.
26 Criminals are found among my people;
they set traps to catch people,
like hunters lying in wait.[d]
27 Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of loot.
No wonder they are rich and powerful
28 and have grown fat and sleek!
To be sure, their evil deeds exceed all limits,
and yet they prosper.
They are indifferent to the plight of the orphan,
reluctant to defend the rights of the poor.
29 Shouldn’t I punish such acts?
declares the Lord.
Shouldn’t I repay that nation for its deeds?
30 An awful, a terrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
the priests rule at their sides,[e]
and my people love it this way!
But what will you do when the end comes?

Prepare for war

6 Escape, people of Benjamin,
get out of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
sound the alarm in Beth-haccherem;
for disaster looms from the north,
massive devastation.
2 You are like a lovely pasture, Daughter Zion.[f]
3 Shepherds come to her with their flocks.
They pitch their tents around her
and graze in their place.
4 “Prepare for battle against her;
get ready; let’s attack by noon!
Oh, no! Daylight is fading,
and the evening shadows lengthen.
5 Get ready, let’s attack by night
and destroy her fortresses!”
6 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Cut down her trees,
and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be held accountable,[g]
for there’s nothing but oppression in her midst.
7 As a well brings forth fresh water,
she brings forth evil.
Violence and destruction are heard within her;
injury and wounds are ever before me.
8 Hear me out,[h] Jerusalem,
or else I’ll turn away from you
and reduce you to ruins,
a land unfit to live in.

Unresponsive people

9 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
From top to bottom, let them harvest
the remaining few in Israel.
Pick clean every
last grape on the vine!
10 To whom can I speak and warn?
How can I get someone’s attention?
Their ears are shut tight,[i]
so they won’t hear.
They are ashamed of the Lord’s word
and take no pleasure in it.
11 But I’m filled with the Lord’s rage
and am tired of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the streets
and on the youths gathered together;
husband with wife will be trapped,
as will those old and gray.
12 Their homes will be turned over to others,
their fields and wives as well.
I will stretch out my hand
against the people of this land,
declares the Lord.
13 From the least to the greatest,
each is eager to profit;
from prophet to priest,
each trades in dishonesty.
14 They treat the wound of my people
as if it were nothing:
“All is well, all is well,” they insist,
when in fact nothing is well.
15 They should be ashamed
of their detestable practices,
but they have no shame;
they don’t even blush!
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen
and stumble when I bring disaster,
declares the Lord.

Footnotes:

  1. Jeremiah 5:12 Or not he
  2. Jeremiah 5:16 Or Its quiver is like an open grave
  3. Jeremiah 5:25 Heb lacks blessings.
  4. Jeremiah 5:26 Heb uncertain
  5. Jeremiah 5:31 Or by their hands
  6. Jeremiah 6:2 Heb uncertain
  7. Jeremiah 6:6 Heb uncertain
  8. Jeremiah 6:8 Or Accept correction
  9. Jeremiah 6:10 Or uncircumcised
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Colossians 1:18-2:7

18 He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
the one who is firstborn from among the dead[a]
so that he might occupy the first place in everything.

19 Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him,
20 and he reconciled all things to himself through him—
whether things on earth or in the heavens.
He brought peace through the blood of his cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame. 23 But you need to remain well established and rooted in faith and not shift away from the hope given in the good news that you heard. This message has been preached throughout all creation under heaven. And I, Paul, became a servant of this good news.

Paul’s service for the church

24 Now I’m happy to be suffering for you. I’m completing what is missing from Christ’s sufferings with my own body. I’m doing this for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I became a servant of the church by God’s commission, which was given to me for you, in order to complete God’s word. 26 I’m completing it with a secret plan[b] that has been hidden for ages and generations but which has now been revealed to his holy people. 27 God wanted to make the glorious riches of this secret plan[c] known among the Gentiles, which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory. 28 This is what we preach as we warn and teach every person with all wisdom so that we might present each one mature in Christ. 29 I work hard and struggle for this goal with his energy, which works in me powerfully.

2 I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who haven’t known me personally. 2 My goal is that their hearts would be encouraged and united together in love so that they might have all the riches of assurance that come with understanding, so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan[d] of God, namely Christ. 3 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. 4 I’m telling you this so that no one deceives you with convincing arguments, 5 because even though I am absent physically, I’m with you in spirit. I’m happy to see the discipline and stability of your faith in Christ.

Error threatening the church

6 So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. 7 Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.

Footnotes:

  1. Colossians 1:18 Or first over the dead
  2. Colossians 1:26 Or mystery
  3. Colossians 1:27 Or mystery
  4. Colossians 2:2 Or mystery
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 77

Psalm 77

For the music leader. According to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

77 I cry out loud to God—
out loud to God so that he can hear me!
2 During the day when I’m in trouble I look for my Lord.
At night my hands are still outstretched and don’t grow numb;
my whole being[a] refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I moan.
I complain, and my spirit grows tired. Selah

4 You’ve kept my eyelids from closing.
I’m so upset I can’t even speak.
5 I think about days long past;
I remember years that seem an eternity in the past.
6 I meditate with my heart at night;[b]
I complain, and my spirit keeps searching:
7 “Will my Lord reject me forever?
Will he never be pleased again?
8 Has his faithful love come to a complete end?
Is his promise over for future generations?
9 Has God forgotten how to be gracious?
Has he angrily stopped up his compassion?” Selah
10 It’s my misfortune, I thought,
that the strong hand of the Most High is different now.

11 But I will remember the Lord’s deeds;
yes, I will remember your wondrous acts from times long past.
12 I will meditate on all your works;
I will ponder your deeds.
13 God, your way is holiness!
Who is as great a god as you, God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have demonstrated your strength among all peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people;
redeemed the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 The waters saw you, God—
the waters saw you and reeled!
Even the deep depths shook!
17 The clouds poured water,
the skies cracked thunder;
your arrows were flying all around!
18 The crash of your thunder was in the swirling storm;
lightning lit up the whole world;
the earth shook and quaked.
19 Your way went straight through the sea;
your pathways went right through the mighty waters.
But your footprints left no trace!
20 You led your people like sheep
under the care of Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 77:2 Or soul
  2. Psalm 77:6 LXX; MT I remember my song in the night.
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 24:23-25

More sayings of the wise

23 These are also the sayings of the wise:

Partiality in judgment isn’t good.

24 Those who say to the guilty, “You are innocent”—
the people will curse them.
Nations will condemn them.
25 But it will go well for those who rebuke them.
A rich blessing will come to them.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Posted on

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday October 4, 2023 (NIV)

Jeremiah 2:31-4:18

31 People of this generation, listen closely to the Lord’s word:
Have I been a wasteland to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?
Why then do my people say,
“We have wandered far away;
we’ll come to you no longer”?
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry
or a bride her wedding dress?
Yet you have forgotten me days without end!
33 So skilled are you at pursuing lovers[a]
that you instruct even the most wicked.[b]
34 Your garments are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor,
even though you didn’t catch them
breaking and entering.
Yet, despite all this,[c] 35 you still insist,
“I’m innocent;
as a result he will turn his anger away from me.”
Because you claim not to have sinned,
I will pass judgment against you.
36 You change sides so casually!
But Egypt will shame you
no less than Assyria.
37 From there you will go out
with your hands on your heads,
because the Lord has rejected those you rely on;
they won’t help you.

Jeremiah’s summons to change

3 If a man divorces his wife,
and after she leaves him marries another,
can he return to her again?
Wouldn’t such an act completely corrupt the land?
Yet you have prostituted yourself with many lovers.
Would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Look to the well-traveled paths[d] and see!
Where haven’t you committed adultery?
On the roadsides you sit in wait for lovers,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have corrupted the land
with your cheap and reckless behavior.
3 That’s why the showers have failed
and the spring rains have ceased.
Still you act like a brazen prostitute[e]
who refuses to blush.
4 At the same time you say to me,
“My father, my friend since youth,
5 will you stay angry forever?
Will you continue to be furious?”
This is what you say
while you do as much evil as you possibly can.

6 During the rule of King Josiah, the Lord said to me: Have you noticed what unfaithful Israel has done? She’s gone about looking for lovers on top of every high hill and under every lush tree. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me, but she didn’t. Her disloyal sister Judah saw this. 8 She[f] also saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away with divorce papers because of all her acts of unfaithfulness; yet disloyal sister Judah was not afraid but kept on playing the prostitute. 9 She didn’t think twice about corrupting the land and committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet even after all this, disloyal sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart but only insincerely, declares the Lord. 11 Then the Lord said to me: Unfaithful Israel is less guilty[g] than disloyal Judah.

12 Go proclaim these words to the north and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel,
declares the Lord.
I won’t reject you,
for I’m faithful,
declares the Lord;
I won’t stay angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your wrongdoing:
how you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
and given yourself to strangers
under every lush tree
and haven’t obeyed me,
declares the Lord.
14 Return, rebellious children,
declares the Lord,
for I’m your husband.
I’ll gather you—
one from a city and two from a tribe—
and bring you back to Zion.

15 I will appoint shepherds with whom I’m pleased, and they will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And in those days, when your numbers have greatly increased in the land, declares the Lord, people will no longer talk about the Lord’s covenant chest; they won’t recall or remember it; they won’t even miss it or try to build another one. 17 At that time, they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne, and all nations will gather there to honor the Lord’s name. No longer will they follow their own willful and evil hearts. 18 In those days the people of Judah and Israel will leave the north together for the land that I gave their ancestors as an inheritance.

19 I thought to myself, How wonderful it would be
to treat you like children
and give you a beautiful land,
an inheritance unrivaled among the nations.
And I thought, You will call me father,
and you won’t turn away from me.
20 But as a woman betrays her lover,
so you, people of Israel, have betrayed me,
declares the Lord.
21 A voice is heard on the well-traveled paths;[h]
it’s the crying and pleading of the people of Israel,
who have lost their way
and forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, rebellious children,
and I will heal your rebellion.

“Here we are; we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Surely what happens on the hills[i] is a waste,
as is the uproar on the mountains.
Only in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 From our youth, shame[j] has devoured
the fruit of our parents’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
as well as their sons and daughters.
25 Let’s lie down in our shame.
Let our dishonor cover us,
for we have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our ancestors,
from our youth to this very day.
We have disobeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

4 If you return, Israel, return to me, declares the Lord.
If you get rid of your disgusting idols from my presence
and wander no more,
2 and if you swear by the living God
in truth, justice, and righteousness,
then the nations will enjoy God’s blessings;[k]
they will boast about him.

3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem:

Break up your hard rocky soil;
don’t plant among the thorns.
4 Dedicate[l] yourselves to the Lord;
don’t be thick-skinned,[m]
people of Judah and residents of Jerusalem,
or else my anger will spread like a wildfire.
It will burn, with no one to put it out,
because of your evil deeds.

Disaster approaches

5 Announce in Judah,
in Jerusalem proclaim,
sound the alarm throughout the land,
cry out and say,
“Gather together!
Let’s flee to the fortified towns!”
6 Set up a flag to Zion;
take cover, don’t just stand there!
I’m bringing disaster from the north,
massive devastation.
7 A lion bursts out of the thicket;
a destroyer of nations advances.
He’s gone forth from his place
to ravage your land,
to wipe out your towns,
until no one is left.
8 So put on funeral clothing.
Weep and wail,
for the Lord’s fierce anger
hasn’t turned away from us.
9 On that day, declares the Lord,
the courage of the king and his princes will fail,
the priests will be stunned,
and the prophets will be shocked.
10 Then I said, “Lord God, no!
You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem
by promising them peace
even though the sword is at their throats.”
11 At that time, this people and Jerusalem will be told:
A blistering wind from the bare heights;
it rages in the desert toward my people,
not merely to winnow or cleanse.
12 This wind is too devastating for that.
Now I, even I, will pronounce my sentence against them.
13 Look! He approaches like the clouds;
his chariots advance like a tempest,
his horses swifter than eagles.
How horrible! We’re doomed!
14 Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,
that you may be saved.
How long will you entertain your destructive ideas?
15 A voice declares from Dan;
someone proclaims disaster from the highlands of Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations,
proclaim it to Jerusalem!
Armies are approaching from a far-away country,
raising their war cries against the towns of Judah.
17 They hem her in like those guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
18 Your own conduct, your own deeds have done this to you.
This is your payment and how bitter it is,
piercing into the depths of your heart.

Footnotes:

  1. Jeremiah 2:33 Or love
  2. Jeremiah 2:33 Or you have taught your ways to wicked women.
  3. Jeremiah 2:34 Heb uncertain
  4. Jeremiah 3:2 Or bare heights
  5. Jeremiah 3:3 Or You have a prostitute’s forehead.
  6. Jeremiah 3:8 LXX, Syr; MT I
  7. Jeremiah 3:11 Or more righteous
  8. Jeremiah 3:21 Or bare heights
  9. Jeremiah 3:23 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT from the hills
  10. Jeremiah 3:24 Or the shame
  11. Jeremiah 4:2 Or bless themselves in him or be blessed by him or will bless themselves
  12. Jeremiah 4:4 Or circumcise
  13. Jeremiah 4:4 Or remove the foreskins of your hearts
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Colossians 1:1-17

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother.

2 To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and prayer for the Colossians

3 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. 5 You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, 6 which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. 8 He informed us of your love in the Spirit.

9 Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. 10 We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; 11 by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; 12 and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. 13 He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.

Hymn about Christ’s work

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the one who is first over all creation,[a]

16 Because all things were created by him:
both in the heavens and on the earth,
the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
Whether they are thrones or powers,
or rulers or authorities,
all things were created through him and for him.

17 He existed before all things,
and all things are held together in him.

Footnotes:

  1. Colossians 1:15 Or firstborn of all creation
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 76

Psalm 76

For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

76 God is known in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.
2 His dwelling place became Salem;
his habitation was Zion.
3 It was there that he broke the fiery shafts of the bow,
the shield, the sword—even the battle itself! Selah

4 You are ablaze with light,
mightier than the mountains that give food.
5 The bravehearted lie plundered.
They sank into deep lethargy.
All the strong troops
couldn’t even lift their hands!
6 At your rebuke, Jacob’s God,
both chariot and horse were stopped dead-still.

7 You! You are awesome!
Who can stand before you when you are angry?
8 You have announced judgment from heaven.
The earth grew afraid and fell silent
9 when God rose up to establish justice,
when God rose up to save all of the earth’s poor. Selah

10 Even human rage will turn to your praise
when you dress yourself
with whatever remains of your wrath.[a]
11 Make promises to the Lord your God and keep them!
Let all around him bring gifts to the awesome one.
12 He breaks the spirit of princes.
He is terrifying to all the kings of the earth.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 76:10 Heb uncertain
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 24:21-22

21 Fear the Lord, my child, as well as the king.
Don’t associate with those who are rebellious.
22 Disaster comes suddenly from them.
Who can know the ruin that both can bring?

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Posted on

10/3/2023 DAB Transcript pt 4

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word and another day. Lot of transition, transition weeks, months, books, and in it all You continue to speak to us and transform us and we are grateful, and we need Your help with this. We confess, we’re not rejoicing in You all the time, we’re not being gentle enough to be evident to all, all the time. We’re not aware that You are near all the time. Sometimes we can’t figure out where You went and we certainly can’t claim that we’re anxious about nothing because we’re anxious about lots of things. And we confess that in every situation we’re not thankful and prayerful. And so, we realize that we have some work to do in self-discipline, in shifting our orientation, understanding that it is all available, peace that passes understanding is available but we have to surrender to You and collaborate with You in cultivating what it takes to move in that direction. So, come, Holy Spirit into this, may we walk a new path, the path where peace does pass all understanding and guards us. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is, well, that’s home base. That’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Mobile homeboy, home base is the Daily Audio Bible app, that sits in the palm of your hand and you can download that free from whatever app store is connected to your device, so check that out. Then you can find things like the Community Section, and in the Community Section, there are different links to different social media channels that we participate in. And so, if there’s an announcement, stuff like that’s good be following along. But also that is home of the Prayer Wall there in the Community Section and the Prayer Wall is, well, that’s where it lives and that’s where it stays and it’s always available day or night, 24 hours a day, rain or shine. It is available to us, and we can go there, middle of the night, middle of the morning and share what’s going on and ask our brothers and sisters to come around side of us, because we’re dragging things that are too heavy for us and we need prayer. And we need to know we’re not alone. That’s the place to go. That’s also the place to go to offer encouragement, to go and see that brothers and sisters are struggling just like the rest of us and to let each other know, hey I’ve got you. I’m walking with you. I maybe, I may be 5000 miles from you. I may be on the other side of the world, but I’ve got you in spirit, we’re in it together, we’re walking together. You’re not alone, that makes an awful lot of difference. So, certainly, be aware of the Prayer Wall there in the Community Section, either on the website at dailyaudiobible.com or in the app.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anybody. Anybody who will listen, no matter where they are, no matter what time it is. And to build community around this rhythm of showing up for each other every day, showing up to take the next step forward. If that is life to you, then thank you for being life-giving. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey everybody, it’s Rachel from Deven in the UK. I’ve just listened to Brian’s commentary or devotional on wives submit to your husbands and husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. And oh my gosh, my heart is full, my heart is full of pain for myself as I went through an abusive 20 years, and I’m now married the man that I should have married in the first place and I’m very happy. And I’m very grateful that I know that he would lay his life down for me and I’d gladly submit to him. But I would ask for your prayers as I try and digest some truths about my past marriage which was really abusive but very subversively. So, never abusive physically, just spiritually, emotionally, financially, and always very hidden. But my heart is broken still from, from that, from 20 years, 20, nearly 25 years with being with that man. And my heart is also grieving for all those women and people in broken marriages and in abusive marriages. And so, yeah, pray for me, if you would, that I know how to deal with, with the aftermath of 20 years of abuse and also, pray with me for people in abusive marriages. Thank you, guys. Bye

Good evening my Daily Audio Bible family. This is David Browning from Savannah, Georgia. And I’m calling in on the 26th of September. I’m calling in for a woman, she didn’t give her name but she’s from Norway. She has children, she’s pregnant. She has a boyfriend that doesn’t want to get married. She has a pastor that’s telling her that she needs to be married. And oh, lady I pray for you. My life is, my mother was a, she had me, I had two sisters from different fathers. She was promiscuous and made mistakes, but you know what? There was a time when we were children that she took us to church. And taking us to church changed her life and in changing her life it made an impact on mine. And the reason that I’m walking with Christ today is because my mother faced that shame. She went into that church as single mother with three children. And that church accepted her. And I pray that you will find a church that accepts you as you are and your children. I pray for that for you. Take your children to church. And if that pastor does not accept you, he is in the wrong and I will pray for him. So, I pray, God bless you. I pray you find friends, look for other woman friends that you can talk to. Just get your children in the word. Teach your child in the way they should grown and when they are up …

Good day Daily Audio Bible family. This is Daniel the Wholehearted calling from North Carolina. And just wanted to say, Brian, thank you for being a great pastor. For being so faithful to minister to us. I wanted to call in to pray for the young man who called in on the 26th saying that he just doesn’t know, he doesn’t know if he’s a Christian. And I think, you may have called before, there was a guy who called a little while back saying that he just didn’t fit in. And I just want to encourage you and let you know that, you know, Christian is a label, it’s in the Bible. You know, being a little Christ, it was a way of people making fun of people who follow Jesus. This day in age in means maybe something different but for those of us who are Christians and who really follow Christ. You know, it’s a badge of honor. And my prayer for you is that you would receive the gift of faith from God and that He would lead you into the loving relationship that He desires to have with you. Let me pray. Father, I pray for this man, this brother and Lord I ask that You give him that gift of faith and that You would give him the gift of the sense of Your presence. Lord, and that You would love him, You would hug him and You would show how much the relationship matters. And how much being close to You matters, regardless of labels given by man. I just pray all this in Jesus name. Be blessed.

Good morning, Daily Audio Family. This is Lucy calling from Iowa, for Kalissa. As an adopted mom who traveled that infertility journey, you said you were waiting for those, trying to find patients for those convinced you’ll be a good mom. That’s not our journey. Our journey is that when our child is there, they will come to us. I have said this to other adopted moms. It’s always easier once you’ve got your child in your arms but when the time is right, your child will be there for you, no convincing others. My son is 21. I have a good friend whose daughter just turned 18. I have another friend whose son just turned 10. When our child needed us, they came to us. Your child will come to you.

Good morning DABers. My sisters and brothers in Christ. This is Running Desperately to Jesus. Also known as Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus. It’s been a long while since I have called, I know. And since that time, I have been through so much it feels like. But there was a lady, excuse me, that came on, and I cannot remember. I believe it was September, and she was speaking of maybe feeling the fog or something while she was driving over the bridge. And you said, the only thing, the simple thing to say is God is in it with me. And even to say it with your job and the anxiety. I asked God 25 years ago, if I could be social worker with the school. He opened that door for me. And sometimes you have to be really aware of whatever you’re blessed with. Sometimes there might be other things that come along with it. I never knew I had anxiety, but I have it bad. I’m a school social worker and I’ve never felt this anxiety as intense. But as you said, my sister in Christ, Jesus is in this. God is in this. He is with me, He’s standing with me. I know that I can do this. I retired in 2019, I went back into the field again, into the social work field. And I kind of, in a sense, having the same feelings that I had when I wanted to retire from the prior job: anxiety, frustration, not sleeping. But I know that God is in control. And now my job is on the line because I need to take a particular test that should have been taken back in, years ago. Pray for me ya’ll. Running Desperately to Jesus, also known as Staying Desperately Connected.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Alexis Rosario calling in for the first time. I’ve been listening for 8, 9, 10 years, I don’t know. I love all of you and pray with you everyday. But specifically, today, I’m gonna pray over a brother who sent a message on the 26th of September about not knowing that if he was a Christian or not. Not knowing what to do or who to turn to. And I’m just praying over your brother. You did not leave your name. You can reach out to me at mrasorio on Instagram. But I would just encourage you to seek a relationship with Christ rather than the box of religion. And I would encourage you every morning, just gonna through this out there, three things and you’re already doing one. Every morning when you get up and you take that first breadth in the morning you thank God. You thank God for the skin on your bones and that you can wiggle your toes and that you can take a breath. And then you go about your day and you enjoy it. You do the things you love. And listen to the Daily Audio Bible like you have been doing. And then at noon, you give a praise to God. Thank you Lord for today. And then you go from there. And if there is toxic relationships in your life, you get away from it. So, just praying over you. Also praying for my sister in Norway who is pregnant and is fear of judgement and if there’s judgement in that church, you go to a new church. And you’re in the right place listening to the Daily Audio Bible. Shot out to Blind Tony and love you all.

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10/3/2023 DAB Transcript pt3

So, I’m quoting from Paul, “rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. “ Okay, so there’s part one. Rejoice in the Lord always. Then Paul goes on, let your gentleness be evident to all. That’s part two. Be aware that the Lord is near. That’s part three. Do not to be anxious about anything; part four. In every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God; that’s part five. There are five things before we get to, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds. So, yes, the peace of God, that is beyond our understanding, that passes our understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus. We have to collaborate in activating that. Rejoice, be gentle, be aware of the Lord’s presence, do not be anxious about anything, and in every situation have a thankful heart, be conversational with God, let Him know what’s going on, present your requests to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds. Let’s just remember we have to participate on our faith journey. And then immediately following that, as Paul is closing this letter, we are told how to aim our hearts and minds, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about those things. So, indeed, life can be chaos and we can’t think clear and we can’t see clear sometimes, and indeed the presence of the Holy Spirit, when we become aware of it, does calm us down, does indeed bring peace, but to cultivate a life where we are living at peace in shalom, peace that passes all understanding, that guards us, our heart and our mind. Then we have to actively incubate these things. An attitude of rejoicing, gentleness, awareness of God’s presence, not being anxious about anything, but in everything praying with thanksgiving, thinking about what is true and noble and right and pure and lovely, and admirable, and excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s like not that much of a leap to simply understand yeah, I guess if that, if that’s what I’m focusing on. If that’s what I’m seeking and looking for and that’s what I’m observing in this world and in my life, then yes, that would change things considerably based on the sort of things that I obsess about all of the time. So, let’s understand as Paul is closing Philippians and we are closing Philippians and preparing to move forward tomorrow, it’s all available to us. It’s not just gonna fall in her laps, as if we could take it or leave it, as if we don’t even care about the gifts that are being bestowed. We have to interact, we have to collaborate, and when we do God is putting back together what is broken in us and in the world because shalom. The way things are supposed to be is what God is doing and we get the opportunity to collaborate with that. May we do that brothers and sisters, may we begin to realize there really is a better way to be. We can follow the culture, we can obsess about what everyone obsess about or numb ourselves in whatever way we want to numb ourselves or we could press into what Paul is saying, understanding that these postures lead somewhere, and that place is good.

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10/3/2023 DAB Transcript pt 2

Commentary:

Okay, so, we’ve already spent some time talking about Jeremiah, this new prophetic book that we are moving into. So, I don’t want to spend that much a time right now. But we’ve closed the letter to the Philippians today as well, and Philippians ends with some very, very well worn versus that are very often quoted and probably a good portion of us know them. We’ve all probably heard them but probably know them by heart and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, which we would maybe more popularly know, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And we stand on that and when somebody in our sphere of influence is going through something oftentimes we’ll say that, the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus, as a way of saying it’s gonna be okay. And there’s literally nothing wrong with encouraging each other in this way, it’s just that that’s not all of it, that’s not all that was being said here, like there’s a precursor and sort of post reflection on this verse, that sits sort of in the middle of an idea or a thought. So, when we just lift out and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, we’re missing most of it. And we can use that verse as a way of encouragement, but it’s not some sort of incantation. Like, just because we say it doesn’t mean the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, just because we quote this verse. Our participation is actually required. And so, let’s just look at this again in context so that we see that we have a role to play.

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10/3/2023 DAB Transcript pt1

Jeremiah 1:1-2:30, Philippians 4:1-23, Psalm 75:1-10, Proverbs 24:17-20

Today is the third day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and move forward together. So, we have moved into a new week. We have moved into a new month. Now, today, because we finished the book of Isaiah yesterday, we’re moving into a new book in the Old Testament. We’ll also be concluding a letter in the New Testament today. So, movement is happening. So, when we get to the New Testament, we’ll finish the book of Philippians.

Introduction to the Book of Jeremiah:

But now, here at the beginning in the Old Testament, we have reached the beginning of the book of Jeremiah, which is a part of the grouping of books known as the major prophets, just like Isaiah. And Jeremiah is prophesying a couple of decades before and then through the Babylonian attack and conquest. Things that we read about and we’re reading in second Kings and second Chronicles, Jeremiah is a prophetic voice during this time. And as with many prophetic voices and prophetic books that are in the Bible, we have these oracles from God. And so, like with Isaiah, we’re jumping around a lot because the things that he had to say were aimed in different directions at different times. So it’s not like a linear narrative story; like this happened, then this happen and this happened and this happened. Jeremiah is a book of prophecy so it’s like this as well, but it’s intriguing because we…we get a glimpse more into Jeremiah’s mindset, and he does not want to be doing some of the things that he’s invited to do, especially at the time that he’s invited to do them. And so, there’s an authenticity to Jeremiah that we get to understand and we get to see the frustration of a prophet who thinks nobody is listening and he just wants to be released from the mission. And he wasn’t just making it up, Israel had turned her back on God and for more than two decades Jeremiah was one of the only, if not the only voice warning the people that the direction they were going in wasn’t going to end anywhere good. They were on the wrong path going in the wrong direction. And this often led Jeremiah to be in conflict with the people. This is a time where there is reasonable prosperity. It doesn’t look like there’s impending doom. And so, if you know, if business is good but there is a doomsayer, then the doomsayer probably isn’t good for business. The business people want people to spend their money right, not be freaked out that something bad is about to happen. And this kind of went up the chain until powerful enough people were just fed up with Jeremiah and all of his interference. So, we’ll watch that even though Jeremiah has frustration and even in tremendous amount of sadness, his loyalty to God remains true. And as it turns out, he was speaking from the Lord and telling the people the truth. Babylon did invade the land in 587 BC. Jerusalem, the holy city, fell. The palace of God that Solomon had made was leveled, completely destroyed. And through it all Jeremiah is there giving words from the Lord to instruct the people how to navigate what is happening and they’re not listening. So, with that, we begin one of the most intriguing prophets in the Bible, Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 30 today.

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The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday October 3, 2023 (NIV)

Jeremiah 1:1-2:30

Introduction

1 These are the words of Jeremiah, Hilkiah’s son, who was one of the priests from Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. 2 The Lord’s word came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of Judah’s King Josiah, Amon’s son, 3 and throughout the rule of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, Josiah’s son, when the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile.

Call of Jeremiah

4 The Lord’s word came to me:

5 “Before I created you in the womb I knew you;
before you were born I set you apart;
I made you a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Ah, Lord God,” I said, “I don’t know how to speak
because I’m only a child.”
7 The Lord responded,
“Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’
Where I send you, you must go;
what I tell you, you must say.
8 Don’t be afraid of them,
because I’m with you to rescue you,”
declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord stretched out his hand,
touched my mouth, and said to me,
“I’m putting my words in your mouth.
10 This very day I appoint you over nations and empires,
to dig up and pull down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.”

Jeremiah’s mission confirmed

11 The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “A branch of an almond[a] tree.”

12 The Lord then said, “You are right, for I’m watching over[b] my word until it is fulfilled.” 13 The Lord asked me again, “What do you see?”

I said, “A pot boiling over from the north.”

14 The Lord said to me, “Trouble will erupt from the north against the people of this land.”

15 I’m calling for all the tribes of great nations from the north, says the Lord, and they will set up their rulers by the entrances of Jerusalem, on its walls, and in every city of Judah. 16 I will declare my judgment against them for doing evil: for abandoning me, worshipping other gods, and trusting in the works of their hands. 17 But you must prepare for battle and be ready to utter every word I command you. Don’t be frightened before them, or I will frighten you before them. 18 Today I have made you an armed city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the entire land—the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and all its people. 19 They will attack you, but they won’t defeat you, because I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.

God’s people abandon their God

2 The Lord’s word came to me:
2 Go and proclaim to the people of Jerusalem,
The Lord proclaims:
I remember your first love,[c]
your devotion as a young bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in an unplanted land.
3 Israel was devoted to the Lord,
the early produce of the harvest.
Whoever ate from it became guilty;
disaster overtook them,
declares the Lord.
4 Listen to the Lord’s word,
people of Judah,
all you families of the Israelite household.

5 This is what the Lord says:

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that made them wander so far?
They pursued what was worthless
and became worthless.
6 They didn’t ask,
“Where’s the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and ravines,
in a land of drought and darkness,
in a land of no return,
where no one survives?”
7 I brought you into a land of plenty,
to enjoy its gifts and goodness,
but you ruined my land;
you disgraced my heritage.
8 The priests didn’t ask,
“Where’s the Lord?”
Those responsible for the Instruction didn’t know me;
the leaders rebelled against me;
the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
going after what has no value.
9 That is why I will take you to court
and charge even your descendants,
declares the Lord.
10 Look to the west as far as the shores of Cyprus
and to the east as far as the land of Kedar.
Ask anyone there:
Has anything this odd ever taken place?
11 Has a nation switched gods,
though they aren’t really gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glory
for what has no value.
12 Be stunned at such a thing, you heavens;
shudder and quake,
declares the Lord.
13 My people have committed two crimes:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water.
And they have dug wells, broken wells that can’t hold water.

14 Is Israel a slave,
a servant by birth?
If not, why then has he become prey?
15 Lions roar at him; they growl.
They destroy his land
and make his towns desolate
until nothing is left.
16 As well, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
lay open your scalp.
17 Haven’t you brought this on yourself
by abandoning the Lord your God,
who has directed your paths?
18 So why take the path to Egypt
to drink water from the Nile?
Why travel the path to Assyria
to drink water from the Euphrates?
19 Your wrongdoing will punish you.
Your acts of unfaithfulness will find you out.
Don’t you understand how terribly bitter
it is to abandon the Lord your God
and not fear me?
declares the Lord of heavenly forces.
20 Long ago I broke your yoke;
I shattered your chains.
But even then you said, “I won’t serve you.”
On every high hill and under every lush tree,
you have acted like a prostitute.
21 Yet it was I who planted you, a precious vine of fine quality;
how could you turn into a wild vine
and become good for nothing?
22 Even though you scrub yourself with soap or strong powder,
the stain of your sin is still before me,
declares the Lord God.
23 How can you say,
“I’m not dirty;
I haven’t gone after Baals.”
Look what you have done in the valley;
consider what you have done there.
You are like a frenzied young camel,
racing around,
24 a wild donkey in the wilderness,
lustfully sniffing the wind.
Who can restrain such passion?
Those who desire her need not give up;
with little effort they will find her in heat.
25 Don’t run about until your feet are blistered
and your throat is parched.
But you say, “What’s the use?
I have fallen in love with foreign gods,
and I must pursue them.”
26 As a thief is ashamed when caught in his tracks,
so the people of Israel are ashamed—
their kings, officials, priests, and prophets—
27 when they say to a piece of wood, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
They have turned their backs to me
and not their faces.
Yet in their time of trouble they say,
“Arise and save us!”
28 Where are the gods
you have made for yourselves?
Let’s see if they will come through for you in your time of trouble.
You have as many gods, Judah,
as you have towns.
29 Why would you bring charges against me?
You have all rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
30 I have disciplined your children in vain;
they have rejected my correction.
You have devoured your prophets
like a hungry lion.

Footnotes:

  1. Jeremiah 1:11 Heb shaqed
  2. Jeremiah 1:12 Heb shoqed
  3. Jeremiah 2:2 Or the love of your youth
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Philippians 4

Stand firm in the Lord

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord.

Loved ones, 2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to come to an agreement in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I’m also asking you, loyal friend, to help these women who have struggled together with me in the ministry of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the scroll of life.

4 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! 5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. 7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

8 From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. 9 Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.

Paul’s thanks for gifts

10 I was very glad in the Lord because now at last you have shown concern for me again. (Of course you were always concerned but had no way to show it.) 11 I’m not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. 12 I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. 13 I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength. 14 Still, you have done well to share my distress.

15 You Philippians know from the time of my first mission work in Macedonia how no church shared in supporting my ministry except you. 16 You sent contributions repeatedly to take care of my needs even while I was in Thessalonica. 17 I’m not hoping for a gift, but I am hoping for a profit that accumulates in your account. 18 I now have plenty and it is more than enough. I am full to overflowing because I received the gifts that you sent from Epaphroditus. Those gifts give off a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice that pleases God. 19 My God will meet your every need out of his riches in the glory that is found in Christ Jesus. 20 Let glory be given to God our Father forever and always. Amen.

Final greeting

21 Greet all God’s people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters with me send you their greeting. 22 All God’s people here, especially those in Caesar’s household, send you their greeting. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Psalm 75

Psalm 75

For the music leader. Do not destroy. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

75 We give thanks to you, God. Yes, we give thanks!
Your name is near. Your marvelous deeds are declared.

2 God says,[a] “When I decide the time is right,
I will establish justice just so.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants will melt,
but I will keep its pillars steady.” Selah

4 I said to the arrogant,
“Don’t be arrogant!”
To the wicked I said,
“Don’t exalt your strength!
5 Don’t exalt your strength so highly.
Don’t speak so arrogantly against the rock.”[b]
6 Because what exalts someone
doesn’t come from the east or west;
it’s not from the south either.
7 Rather it is God who is the judge.
He brings this person down,
but that person he lifts up.
8 Indeed, there’s a cup in the Lord’s hand
full of foaming wine, mixed with spice.
He will pour it out,
and all of the earth’s wicked people
must drink it;
they must drink every last drop!

9 But I will rejoice[c] always;
I will sing praises to Jacob’s God!
10 God says:[d]
“I will demolish every bit of the wicked’s power,
but the strength of the righteous will be lifted up.”

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 75:2 Heb lacks God says.
  2. Psalm 75:5 LXX against God; MT speak with an arrogant neck
  3. Psalm 75:9 LXX; MT I will declare
  4. Psalm 75:10 Heb lacks God says.
Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

Proverbs 24:17-20

17 When your enemies fall, don’t rejoice.
When they stumble, don’t let your heart be glad,
18 or the Lord will see it and be displeased,
and he will turn his anger from them.
19 Don’t get fighting mad at evil people;
don’t be envious of the wicked.
20 Indeed, there is no future for the evil;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible